Thread: TN-Notary Public Accused Of Registering Cars For Illegal Imm

Notary Public Accused Of Registering Cars For Illegal Immigrants
Scott Noll
6:22 PM CDT, May 8, 2009

FAST FACTS:
Illegal immigrants claim local notary public charging over $1000 for car registrations
Maureen Bowers also linked to Shelby County Clerk's corruption cases
Immigrants say Bowers took their money, now they can't find her
Scott.Noll@wreg.com

( Memphis, 5/8/2009) There is new information tonight in the corruption investigation at the Shelby County Clerk's Office.

Investigators say many clerks took bribes in exchange for illegally processing car tags or titles.

Tonight, WREG News Channel 3 Investigators uncover why.

What might seem like nickel and dime misbehavior is dark business

Many of the people WREG News Channel 3 Investigators talked with say they turned to Maureen Bowers to do what they couldn't.

That's because they're in the United States illegally.

They say they paid Bowers to do their business at the clerk's office, taking care of things like getting license plates and titles for cars.

But now that they've paid, they claim they can't find Bowers.

One-by-one they show up at El Zacatecano.

One customer who admits he's in the US illegally, showed a receipt from March.

It's marked $1080, paid-in-full for Tennessee license plates.

He's not alone.

"He pay $1,080 and she's not open no more," said a Mexican immigrant through a translator.

The man admitted he's an illegal immigrant.

His friend, he explained, paid Bowers a month a half ago for car registration . The illegal immigrant also admits using Bowers to get plates for his own car twice.

"Just so I'm clear," WREG News Channel 3 Investigators asked the translator. "She will go and register and title cars for people who are illegal?"

"Yes," the translator replied.

If Maureen Bower's name sounds familiar, it should.

Bowers has been named in a criminal indictment as having bribed former Shelby County Clerk's employee Anita Porter last October.

The county attorney's office says Bowers also paid-off two clerks at the Millington branch, including the branch manager, Paula Hanson.

"According to Ms. Hanson's testimony, Maureen Bowers was an individual who came in frequently over the years as a designated representative for other applicants, almost exclusively hispanic, to do or to process or to conduct mother vehicle transactions," explained Deputy County Attorney Danny Presley.

State rules say a third-party trying to register a vehicle for someone else must have three things.

First, a signed power of attorney form.

A designated representative must also show proof of the car owner's identity, and proof of the owner's residency.

But an internal investigation obtained by WREG News Channel 3 Investigators, says, in most cases, Bowers, and another woman, did not have power of attorney forms.

It also claims in exchange for money, at least one clerk processed registrations for the pair without proper paperwork.

How much Bowers paid, still isn't clear . That's because the clerk, who insiders say dealt with Bowers the most, resigned before giving a sworn statement to investigators.

That clerk, Konya Schumann, didn't want to talk to us.

We couldn't find Bowers at her Berclair home, but a neighbor told us we weren't the only ones looking.

"A bunch of people have been coming to my house looking for her, saying that she has their title because they're trying to get the tags for their vehicle," said the neighbor.

After several days of searching, we finally got a phone call from Bowers.

"I've been advised by my attorney I cannot speak to y'all," Bowers said. "It's something completely different than what you all are after."

Bowers attorney also refused to comment.

Bowers ended our conversation with a request.

"Would you please stop following me?" she asked WREG News Channel 3 Investigators.

But back at El Zacatecano, Bowers' customers have a wish of their own.

After paying more than $1,000 for a renewal that normally costs $106 dollars, the customers say they just want their tags from the woman they paid to do what they say they can't.

"You need to do it, you need a card (registration) for it," explained the translator. "No option."

Maureen Bowers has not been criminally charged with anything.

However, the District Attorney says the investigation into the clerk's office corruption continues, and that more indictments are possible.


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Besides Bowers breaking US Law this article makes it very clear IA's have NO respect for our country and its laws.They feel they have a supreme right to do as they please and scream like a mashed cat if they are cheated (ironic isn't it)) or if they do not get what they think they deserve.

I ask everyone including Pro-IA's is this the kind of people we want to give citizenship to ? A bunch of disrespectful liars and cheats.

After paying more than $1,000 for a renewal that normally costs $106 dollars, the customers say they just want their tags from the woman they paid to do what they say they can't.

What she's doing is wrong, but what they are doing is wrong too! Somehow I find it way too hard to work up any pity for law breakers. Classic "cheaters never prosper", and I won't apologize I got a good snicker out of this!

Good for Tennessee. This must be an extension of the effort described in these articles:

Attorney General Halts "Notario Publico" Advertisements (click here)

State Sues Companies For Misleading Ads (click here)